Heavy rains took off from where they had left Chennai and parts of North Coast Tamil Nadu during the weekend and delivered a severe thrashing to the city and suburbs from early this (Monday) morning thanks to a barrage of north-easterly winds pushed in by a cyclonic circulation each in the immediate neighborhood and away to the south east.

The circulation nearer home was parked over south Tamil Nadu and east Sri Lanka coast while the other one lurked over the south east Bay of Bengal with prospects of intensification along a track that leads to coastal Tamil Nadu. India Meteorological Department (IMD) located this over the south east Bay and adjoining south Andaman Sea this morning.

Full-blooded storm?

The IMD has already kept a watch for this ‘low’ to intensify, which, according to its short-to-medium projections, may go on to become a full-flooded storm over the next few days. The ‘low’ will take shape as early as Tuesday (tomorrow) and become ‘more marked’ (Intensify) by Wednesday and travel towards the North Tamil Nadu coast by Thursday.

It will scale up the rainfall activity further with heavy to very heavy rainfall over north Coastal Tamil Nadu (including a socked Chennai) and South Coastal Andhra Pradesh at a few places and extremely heavy rain at isolated places and heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places over Kerala, Mahe and Rayalaseema on Wednesday and Thursday.

Fisherman are advised not to venture into the south east Bay on Tuesday and Wednesday and over south west Bay and along and off Tamil Nadu and adjoining Andhra Pradesh coast on Wednesday and Thursday. Those already out in the deep sea are advised to return to the coast by Tuesday itself.

Arabian Sea depression

Meanwhile, Sunday’s depression over east-central Arabian Sea, which is helping pull the easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal into the South Peninsula and playing its role in driving up the north east monsoon concurrently, was located to about 840 km south west of Mumbai and 790 km west-south-west of Panjim. It does not, however, have any direct impact on Indian coast.

The IMD has issued a heavy rainfall and thunderstorm warning for Tamil Nadu until Friday. Light to moderate rainfall is likely at many places over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal with heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places and over coastal Andhra Pradesh, Yanam, Rayalaseema and south Interior Karnataka today (Monday). Isolated extremely heavy rainfall is likely over coastal Tamil Nadu and south coastal Andhra Pradesh on Thursday.